Thursday, November 27, 2008

Today marks the 30th anniversary of Harvey Milk's assassination. To honor Milk's life, thirty or so of us including Mark Solomon, Chris Mason, Don Gorton and Ryan MacNeely held a candle light vigil before going to the movie's premier last night. Sean Penn is incredible in this role, it is as if he channelled Milk's soul while portraying him, and he will undoubtedly win the Oscar for his role. It is a must see, not only for the gay community but for those who have any compassion or hope in their hearts that tomorrow will be better than yesterday and today. I strongly encourage everyone to see this movie with friends and to talk about what lessons we have learned, and the similarities we see in equality's opponents today. Let's make this movie the blockbuster hit it deserves to be and destroy the closet doors some would have us live our entire lives in.

We must all reach within ourselves and find the rowdy citizen within that made Milk great, doing so in a way that shows both resolve for our own needs while being sympathetic to how misinformed the majority is.

In a time when we are defeated by proposition 8 let us remember that Harvey Milk lost his first three tries at winning an election. We need to come together and be a united front against discrimination of all forms, so that our communities will be safer and our lives will be happier. I hope all of you see the importance of this opportunity to stand behind a common cause and rally your friends to it.

This is not about the GLBT community, this is about hope. Hope that one day we will see for ourselves the vision leaders like Harvey Milk had for us. Our greatness as a nation relies not on conformity, but rather on individuality. We are not great in spite of our differences, we are great because of it.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Here's the link to the artist's home page. We need to continue to show unity and resolve, it's the only way things will change. In each of us we must find a hero and let it come out now when it matters most. There will be no better time to voice your concerns, people are trying to turn back the hands of time because of their own fear and hatred. We can prevent that if we capture America's attention but we have to act NOW.

Final Statement from No on Prop 8 CampaignWe had hoped never to have to write this note.

Sadly, fueled by misinformation, distortions and lies, millions of voters went to the polls yesterday and said YES to bigotry, YES to discrimination, YES to second-class status for same-sex couples.

And while the election was close, and millions of votes still remain uncounted, is has become apparent that we lost.

There is no question this defeat is hard.

Thousands of people have poured their talents, their time, their resources and their hearts into this struggle for freedom and this fight to have their relationships treated equally. Much has been sacrificed in this struggle.

While we knew the odds for success were not with us, we believed Californians could be the first in the nation to defeat the injustice of discriminatory measures like Proposition 8.

And while victory is not ours this day, we know that because of the work done here; freedom, fairness and equality will be ours someday. Just look at far we have come in a few decades.

Up until 1974 same-sex intimacy was a crime in California. There wasn’t single law recognizing the relationships of same-sex couples until 1984 — passed by the Berkeley School District. San Francisco did not pass domestic-partner protections until 1990, the state of California following in 2005. And in 2000, Proposition 22 passed with a 23% majority.

Today, we fought to retain our right to marry and millions of Californians stood with us. Over the course of this campaign everyday Californians and their friends, neighbors and families built a civil rights campaign unequalled in California history.

You raised more money than anyone believed possible for an LGBT civil rights campaign.

You reached out to family and friends in record numbers—helping hundreds of thousands of Californians understand what the LGBT civil rights struggle is really about.

You built the largest grassroots and volunteer network that has ever been built – a coalition that will continue to fight until all people are equal.

And you made the case to the people of California and to the rest of the world that discrimination — in any form — is unfair and wrong.

We are humbled by the courage, dignity and commitment displayed by all who fought this historic battle.

Victory was not ours today. But the struggle for equality is not over.

Because of the struggle fought here in California — fought so incredibly well by the people in this state who love freedom and justice — our fight for full civil rights will continue.

Activist and writer Anne Lamott writes, “Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”

Recommended Reading

Veteran Ben LaGuer

Let me finally return to Dwight Macdonald and the responsibility of intellectuals. Macdonald quotes an interview with a death-camp paymaster who burst into tears when told that the Russians would hang him. "Why should they? What have I done?" he asked. Macdonald concludes: "Only those who are willing to resist authority themselves when it conflicts too intolerably with their personal moral code, only they have the right to condemn the death-camp paymaster." The question, "What have I done?" is one that we may well ask ourselves, as we read each day of fresh atrocities in Vietnam—as we create, or mouth, or tolerate the deceptions that will be used to justify the next defense of freedom.

– Chomsky, The Responsibility of Intellectuals 1967

Words to Remember:

"Juris praecepta sunt haec: honeste vivere; alterum non laedere; suum cuique tribuere"(These are the precepts of the law: To live honorably; to hurt nobody; to render to every one his due.)

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -Section 1 of the 14th amendment to the US Constitution

Never Forgotten; Sadly Missed

Lawrence King

GLBT Legends

Paul McMahon and Ralph Hodgdon in 2007

"If you want to be important -- wonderful. If you want to be recognized -- wonderful. If you want to be great -- wonderful. But, recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness." -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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